


Child, from this world now you will draw your breath

by tigriswolf



Category: Marvel (Movies), Marvel Avengers Movies Universe, Norse Mythology, The Avengers (2012)
Genre: Bullshittery, Gen, Improperly marked dialogue due to stylistic choices, Not Thor: The Dark World Compliant, Odin's A+ Parenting, Suicide, Symbolism
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2012-08-15
Updated: 2012-08-15
Packaged: 2017-11-12 05:40:56
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 489
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/487339
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/tigriswolf/pseuds/tigriswolf
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>A hero is merely the monster of someone else’s story.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Child, from this world now you will draw your breath

**Author's Note:**

> Title: Child, from this world now you will draw your breath  
> Fandom: Avengers movieverse/Norse mythology  
> Disclaimer: not my characters; title from Betsy Sholl  
> Warnings: … yeah. Improperly marked dialogue due to stylistic choices. Symbolism. Bullshittery. Character death, after a fashion. Suicide by way of mythological figures, too. Mentions of Odin’s A+ parenting.  
> Pairings: um. Yggdrasil/Jörmungandr?  
> Rating: PG  
> Wordcount: 490  
> Point of view: third

Tell me, little prince, the Tree sighs, what makes a monster? 

He holds his breath and does not shiver.

Tell me, little prince, the Tree whispers, what makes a god?

His eyes are open and the sun climbs high in the sky.

Tell me, little prince, the Tree groans, what makes a hero?

His skin is blue and snow falls, and he has no answer. 

.

A God-King prays for guidance and ignores when the World Serpent answers because the answer does not fit his plan.

A Goddess-Queen weaves a shroud and reads the future in the cloth, and holds her tongue for she can never speak of what she sees. 

A God-Prince knows he will one day be king and that all is well in the Realm Eternal, for his brother is well on the way to healing. 

And a God-Prince listens to the wind’s murmur, and shudders because everything is _wrong_.

.

Tell me, SilverTongue, the Tree commands. How does the story of Loki end? 

The World Serpent regards Loki with planet-sized eyes and asks, What is the difference between truth and lie to a reality-maker? 

Monster. God. Hero. What is the difference – and what does it matter? 

.

Loki Odinson. Laufeyson. Nobodyson. Liesmith, Trickster, Mother of Monsters – though, thankfully, he thinks with a bitter laugh, not all the stories are true. He has never sired or carried a child. 

Loki, who fell through the void and survived. 

Loki, who defied Death’s beloved. 

Loki, who sits at the base of the World Tree and listens to the World Serpent’s bad jokes, with blue skin and red eyes, and does not shiver in the cold.

Loki, who glances at the Serpent twined around the Tree and says, A hero is merely the monster of someone else’s story. 

The Tree sighs in satisfaction and the Serpent laughs, worlds trembling in his coils. 

.

Loki is a war criminal in three different realms, and feared or hated (or both) on six others. Loki is no one’s ally and no one’s friend. 

Loki is certainly no one’s son or anyone’s brother. 

Tell me, little prince, the Tree begins, and the Serpent finishes, how does the story of Loki end? 

Loki has no allies or friends, no one he can trust with every part of him. His skin is blue, his soul black as tar – black as the void though which he spent eternities falling. 

The story of Loki, he replies, ends here, at the base of the World Tree. 

Loki gives himself to the Serpent, oldest of all but the Tree, stronger than Odin and Hel combined. 

And Loki, hated and feared, is no more.

.

A child is born. A Tree sighs and a Serpent waits, and a God-Prince mourns alone. 

How does the story end? the Tree asks the Serpent. 

The Serpent answers, With a beginning. 

Worlds tremble. Nine suns rise. Snow falls as an infant screams her first breath, echoing in the void.


End file.
